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PLEASE
HANDLE
WITH CARE
University
of
Connecticut
Libraries
3
^153 D1EE113S
7
GAYLORD
RG
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Digitized
by
the
Internet
Archive
.
in 2011 with funding from
Lyrasis Members and
Sloan
Foundation
http://www.archive.org/details/dealingswithdeadOOrand
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DEALINGS
WITH THE DEAD;
THE
HUMAN
SOUL,
ITS
MIGRATIONS
AND
ITS TRANSMIGRATIONS.
IJjomtb
frg
%
^mtxntxmx.
I
have
stolen the golden
keys
of
the Egyptians ; I will
indulge
m> sacred
fury. —
Kepler.
What
is
here written
is truth,
therefore it
cannot
die.
Poe.
I
have
found it
This
night have
I
read
the
Mystic
Scroll.
The
Grand
Secret
of
the
Age
stands
revealed.
It
is
mine
Alone
I
delved
for
it,
alone
I
have
found
it
Now
let the
world
laugh
I am immortal
I —P.
B.
Randolph.
UTICA,
N.
Y.
PUBLISHED BY
M.
J.
RANDOLPH.
1861->62.
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Entered according
to
Act
of
Congress,
in
the
year
1861,
By
ALEXANDER
BRADY,
In the
Clek's
office
of
the
District
Court
of
the
United
States
for
the
District
of
Massachusetts.
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DEDICATION.
TO MY
FAR
OFF
AND
BEST BELOVED
FRIEND,
BY
WHOSE
ROYAL BOUNTY
I AM
ENABLED TO
BRTNtJ
THIS BOOK
BEFORE
THE
WORLD
;*
AND TO
ALL WHO
FEEL AND LTKEWISE
THTNK
J
AND
TO
ALL
WHO
HAVE
SUFFERED
ON
THEHJ
WAY THROUGH
THIS
WORLD
AS
I
HAVE, THIS
VOLUME
IS
DEDICATED
BY
THE
SON OF
FLORA.
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PREFACE.
Some
men
are
daily
dying
; some
die
ere
they
have
learned
how
to
live
;
and
some find
their
truest account
in
revealing
the
mysteries of both life and death,
—
even
fhile
they
themselves
perish
in
the
act
of
revelation,
as
is most wonderfully
done in
the remarkable
volume
now before
the reader,
—
as,
alas
almost
seems
to
be
the
case
with the penman
of
what
herein
follows.
The
criterion of the value of
a
man or woman
is the
kind
and
amount
of
good
they
do
or
have
done.
The
standard
whereby
to
judge
a
thinker,
consists
in
the
mental
treasures which during
life
they
heap
up
for
the
use
and
benefit
cf
the age that
is, and those which
are
to be, when the
fitful
fever of
their
own
sorrowful lives
shall
be
ended,
and
they
have
passed
away
to
begin
in
:
tern reality
their dealings
with
the
dead.
He
or
she
who
adds
even
one
new
thought
to
the
age
becomes
at
age's
great
benefactor,
to
whom
in
future times
grateful men shall
erect
monuments and statues. Well,
here
follows
the
work
of
a
man, for
to hand
penned
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4
DEALINGS
WITH
THE
DEAD.
every
line,
and
the ideas
were
born
of his soul,
not-
withstanding
his
own
disclaimer,
for
not every one
can
understand
the
mystical
Blending
by means
of
which
he
claims
to
have reached
the
ultima
thule
of
human
know-
ledge,
and most
readers,
while reveling
m
the
delights
whereof so
rich
a
store
is laid
before them,
will
insist
that
these
glories
were begotten of his
own
soul. Be
that
as
it
may,
however,
here
is
one,
who,
measured
by
the
standard
of
the world itself,
merits
a monument stronger
than
iron,
more
endurable
than
granite,
the gratitude
of
every soul
that
sighs
for
immortality
;
for not a single
new
thought,
but
whole
platoons
of
them,
grand andmag-
nificent,
hath
he
here
presented,
a
deathless
legacy
to
the
world
;
and
bye-and-bye these thoughts
of
'
Cynthia/
these
'
Dealings with the Dead/
will
become
a
beacon
on
the
Highway
of
Thought, and
be
remembered
to the
everlasting glory
of
the sufferer who penned
them.
Eest, Paschal, rest,
my brother
;
thou
brother and lover
of thy race, for thy work
is
well
done
;
thy
thoughts
can
never
die.
The
bad will
hate,- but all
who
love
Truth,
Goodness, and Beauty,
will bless thee,
and
crown
thy
name
with
fadeless laurels. G-.
D.
S.
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INTRODUCTION.
Dear
Reader,
your
humble servant here presents
you
with
a
somewhat
curious,
novel,
yet
suggestive
and
thought-provoking work. So
far as
mere
language
is
concerned,
it
might
have
been
sent
forth
upon
its
travels
up
and down
the
world,
clad
in better
raiment
; but
as
I
had
nothing
better
than
linsey-woolsey
whereof
to
fashion its
apparel,
why,
it
must
e'en
take
its
chance in
that.
A man's
coat
amounts
to but
little at
the
best, com-
pared
to
the
man inside it,
—
and so of books.
It is
not
always
your
gilt-edged
annual
that either carries the
most
precious freight,
or
does
the most
good
in
the
world
;
hence
so far
as
the
verbal
clothing
of
my
pre-
cious
babe, this child
of
my soul
is
concerned,
so
far
as
relates
to
the
terms
wherein
that
here offered
is
couched,
nothing
need be
said
apologetically.
If the
dress suits,
well and good
;
if not,
it
is
even
well
;
—the
writer has
done
the
very
best that could
be done,
no
one
can do more.
In
making
the
assertions,
the
weird
and
strange revealments contained
within
the
lids
of
this
book,
no
one can
be
better aware
of
the
risk en-
countered
of
being
laughed at by
the
wise
people
of
this wise
age, than I
am.
Doubtless
there
are
those
who
will cavil,
deride,
sneer
at and
condemn
the
author
and
the
work
:
but what of
that
?
My
truths,
if
truths
indeed they
be,
and
to
me,
they
are
intensly
such,
will
live.
Why
?
Because
they were chipped
off the Rock
of
Truth
itself,
and
therefore
will
unquestionably
sur-
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6
DEALINGS
WITH
THE DEAD.
vive
many
a
laugh,
as
have
other
truths ere
now. They
and
their
discoverer
can
well
afford being
laughed
at.
The
author feels that
when
the
great
Beaper,
Death,
shall
have done
his
work, these
same
truth-seeds
will
spring up
into
Form,
Life, and
Beauty
:
—
all
for
the
gladdening
of
the
people
:
—and
this feeling, this
inner
prophecy
of
and
to
the
soul,
contents
and
satisfies
the
being.
Friendly
reader,
when
this
body
shall
have
gone back
to
the dust
whence it
sprung
in
the
hopeful
years
gone
by
;
when
this
soul
shall
be
nestling
in
the
bosom of
its
Saviour
and his God,
people
who
then
shall read
these pages
will
find,
if
not
before,
more
in
that
which the
heart-weary
one
has
here
written, than
either
a
psychological
romance,
or
the
daring
specula-
tions
of
undisciplined genius.
The
foregoing
observations have
reference
more
es-
pecially to
the
first
part
of
this
work,
which
is
pre-
sented
in
the
form
of Revelations
from
the Dead. It
does
not
owe
its
origin
to
what
is ordinarily
known
as
Spiritualism
:
—
it
did not
come
-either
by
the
Baps, Tips, Table-turning,
Speaking
medium-
ship,
Writing,
or
in any
other of
the
modes
so
commonly claimed
for
the
mass
of
Spiritual
litera-
ture,
now
so
widely
circulated
and
read.
The
pro-
cess
by
which
what
follows
came,
is
to
me
as
weirdly
strange
and
novel,
as
anything
can
well be. I
call
this
process
The Blending.
The
people called
Mediums,
a
singular order
among
men, set
forth
that
their
bodies are,
for
the time
being,
vacated by their
souls,
and that during
the
vacation, the
soul
of some
one else,
one
who has died, and yet
lives,
takes
possession of the physical
structure,
and
then
pro-
ceeds to give
forth
his
or
her
wisdom
or
folly
for
the
enlightenment
or darkening
of men's
minds.
Another
class tell
us
that
they
are
impressed
by
a
departed
one
to give
voice to
the
Spirit's
thought ;
others
declare
that
they
are
obsessed.
Well,
it
may
all
be
so,
or it
may
not. I
do
not assume or
presume to
decide
one
way
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DEALINGS WITH
THE
DEAD.
7
or
the
other :
all
that need
be
said
on
this
point
is,
that
this
book
does
not
owe
its
origin
to either
or
any
of
these
methods.
Machiavelli,
the
great
Italian diplomat,
is
said
to
have
gained a
thorough and
complete
knowledge
and
insight of
the state,
frame
of
mind,
and
intentions
of
other
men, through a
wonderful power
which
he,
above
most,
if
not
all men,
possessed, of completely
identify-
ing
himself
by
an
intense
desire
and
volition,
with
those
with
whom
he
came
in contact. To such
an
extent
and
degree
did he
possess
this
power,
that
it
was
an easy
task to
circumvent and
overreach most,
if
not
all
his
diplomatic
opponents.
He
placed
himself by
a
mental
effort, and
physical as
well, in
the
exact
position
occu-
pied
for
the
time
being
by
his antagonists, or
the
person
he
designed
to
read.
No
matter
what
the
mood
indicated
by
the
physical
appearance,
or the
outward manifestation
of
what
was
going
on
within,
away down
in
the
deeps
of
being,
was,
he
immediately moulded
his
features
by the model
thus
furnished.
I
am
now
in his
place, said
he,
mentally,
and
will see
how
to
act,
think
and
feel from
his posi-
tion
;
and,
for the
time being, I sink
my
own
personality,
my
opinions,
views,
—
in
short
all
my
self-hood,
preju-
dices,
likes,
dislikes, and all
else
beside
;
—
in a
word,
I
transmute Machiavelli
into the
other man
:
—
which
being
effected,
I
shall be, to
all
intents
and
purposes,
that
other
man
for
the time being, and
of
course
will
feel as
he feels,
see as
he
sees,
know
as
he
knows,
and
be
impelled
to
action
by the
identical
motives whereby
he
is
prompted.
All
the world
knows
that Machiavelli
succeeded
to
a
wonderful
extent
;
and by
this
power of
assumption,
this easy,
yet
mysterious blending,
he
often,
in
fact,
nearly
always,
baffled
his
foes,
and the
foes
of
the
State,
so
that
now a successful
diplomatist is
said
to be
pur-
suing
the
Machiavellian
policy.
Almost
any
person can make
successful
experiments
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8
DEALINGS
WITH
THE
DEAD.
in
this
—
Science,
shall
I
call it
?
—
and will
be
surprised
at
the
results.
A
man
or
woman
appears
before
you
with
features
bearing
the
impress
of
a
certain
kind
of
thought
—
and
you
can
find out
what
kind
by
placing
your
own
features,
so
far
as
possible, in
the
same
shape
;
keep
them
thus
for several minutes,
and
you
will
become absorbed
in
the same that
absorbs the
individual
before you,
and
in
a short time
will
become
an
adept
in
the
art
of
Soul-reading.
Many men,
and a
still
greater
number
of
women, who
possessed
the
power alluded to,
have
existed
in
all
times past ;
but, above all others,
the age we
live in
has been
prolific
of such
—so that
now
it is not
at all
difficult
to find
those who
will enter
at
will,
almost,
the
very
abysses, labyrinths,
and
most
secret
recesses
of
your
being. Indeed,
persons
abound
in
nearly all
the
great
cities of
the world
who
attain
high honor and
re-
nown
—
to
say
nothing
of
the
benefits
of
competence,
and
even
wealth
—
by
the
exercise
of
this
marvellous
faculty.
There
are
many
wise
ones who
admit the existence
of
this
power, yet
deny
its
attainability by
the many, and
who
stoutly
maintain
that
it is
a
special
gift
of
the
Creator
to
a
favored
few.
Against such a
verdict the
writer
begs
leave
most
respectfully
to
protest
;
and
these
are
the
grounds
upon
which
that
protest
is
based
:
All human
powers
and
faculties
are
latent, until time,
circumstance,
and
discipline
bring
them out.
All
human
beings
are
created
alike in so
lar
forth
as
the
germinal
powers
are
concerned.
All
men
naturally
love
sweet
sounds,
and,
if this
taste
be
cultivated
at an
early day,
are
capable
of
musical
appreciation,
if
not
of
vocal
or instrumental
execution.
The
seeds
of
all
unfolding
lie
jyerdu,
or
latent,
in
every
human
being
;
they
are the property
of
Soul
;
in
Soul-soil they are
imbedded,
and from
that
soil they
must
eventually
put
forth
the
shoot, the
shrub,
the tree,
the
branch,
leaf,
blossom,
and finally
the
fruit.
Every
faculty,
strictly
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DEALINGS
WITH
THE DEAD.
9
human,
belongs
to, and
is
a
part of, every
member
of
the
species
;
and
that
—
this
fact being
admitted,
though
any given
one
or
more
may be
manifested
most
power-
fully by
some,
and
not
at
all
by
others
—
all
of
them
are
one
day
to
be developed, called
out,
unfolded,
in
all,
is
a
plain inference
;
nay, an absolute
certainty.
The
power to
see without
eyes,
demonstrated by
scores and
hundreds
of clairvoyants,
is not a
gift peculiar
to
a
cer-
tain
man
or
woman,
or
to
a
certain
order
of
people.
It
is
a power
that can be had
for
the trying,
as
any
good
mesmerist will affirm and
prove.
It
seems
to
me
that
the
expression
of
the
Crucified,
I
and my
Father
are one,
contains
a
direct affirma-
tion
of
the
possibility
of
this
blending.
God
was
to
Jesus
the
very
essence
of
goodness
;
Jesus
strove
to
be
also
most
thoroughly
good,
and
succeeded
in reaching
that point where
Himself
was in
perfect blending
with
the
entire
universe
of
Goodness, and
therefore
with
the
Fount
of
all
Excellence.
Perfect
blending
is
perfect love
;
and
whether
that
love
be
toward
the person, the
outer
self, the
body
;
or
toward
the
soul, or
the
mental
treasures,
or
the secret
self of another, the results
are
in
degree,
if not
in
kind,
the
same.
Mental
telegraphy will
be
a
perfect
success,
when-
ever
two
persons
can
be
found
in
whom the
power
of
entering the region
of
Sympathia
shall
normally
exist.
A
few
can
transmit
thought
to,
and
receive
thought
back
from,
others,
even
now
;
but
presently
scores
of
people will develop
the
ability.
Now,
this
blending
is
not
a
mere
magnetic
union
of
physical spheres,
but
is
a
Soul-process
nearly
alto-
gether.
Lov
e,
in
its
essence,
is
a
thing
of the
Spiritual
part
of
us,
though,
alas
it
is often put to base
uses.
There was once,
not
many
years ago,
a woman
to
whom
I
felt such a love
as that subsisting
between
affectionate
sisters
;
for it
was deeper,
purer,
calmer
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10
DEALINGS
WITH
THE DEAD.
than
that
which binds
brothers together.
In
life,
her
soul
drew near,
almost fearfully
near,
to
mine
;
she
thought
my thoughts,
read my
spirit,
sympathized
with
me
in all
my
joys,
my
sorrows,
and my
aspirations.
Often
have
we
sat beside each other
—that
poor
sick
girl
and
I
;
and
though no
word
broke
the
stillness
of
the
sacred
hour,
yet
not a region
of
our
souls
was
there
but
was
explored
by
the other;
not
a
silent
thought
that
was
not
mutually
understood
and replied
to.
Presently
she
died
—
the forms
were
forever
separated,
yet
not for
a
day
were
the
mystic
soul-links
which
bound
us to-
gether
severed.
No sister was
ever
more
dearly
loved
than
I
loved
her
;
and that
love
was
fully
and
as
purely
returned.
Everybody
called
her
Sister
everybody
felt
that
to
them
she
was
truly
such.
Well, she
died
;
and
after
a
year
or
two had
passed,
I
began
to
understand
that
at
times
her
soul
was
near
me,
and
many
and oft were
the
periods
in
which
I did
not
seem to
be
myself, but
had an
invincible
conviction
that I
was
Cynthia
for
the
time
being,
instead
of
who
and
what
I
am. By-and-by
there
came
a
consciousness
of
this
blending,
so
deep,
so
clearly
defined,
so calm,
that at
last
I
began to
appreciate
a
mighty,
almost
resistless
Will
and
Purpose
behind
it all;
for
I
was
my-
self and Cynthia
—
never
simultaneously,
as is
asserted
to
be
the
case
with many of
the
people
called
Me-
diums
—
but
in
separate instants
—
now
her,
then
my-
self
;
at
first
very
imperfectly,
but
gradually
approach-
ing
an absolute
and complete
mergement
of Soul.
This continued
for
nearly
two
years,
at
intervals,
and
after
about
eighteen
months
had
passed,
one
portion
of
the
process seemed
to
have reached
completeness
—
for
in
a
degree
it
changed, and
instead of
momentary,
as
before,
the transmutations
became
longer,
until
at last,
as
now, the
changes
last sixty,
and in one
instance
has
reached
two
hundred and
forty-five minutes.
It may
here
be
asked
:
Where are
you
in
the in-
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DEALINGS
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THE
DEAD.
11
We
are
two
in
one,
yet
the
stronger rules
the
hour.
It will be
seen, therefore,
that
this
condition
is
as
widely
separated from
those
incident
to
the
Medi-
ums,
as
theirs
is
supposed
to
be
different
from
the
ordinary
wakeful
mood.
They
reach
their
state
by
a
sort
of retrocession from
themselves
;
they fall,
or
claim
to
fall,
into
a
peculiar
kind
of slumber,
their
own
facul-
ties
going,
as
it were, to
sleep.
On
the
contrary,
mine
is
the
direct
opposite of this,
for,
instead
of
a
sleep
of
any
sort, there comes
an
intense
wakefulness. Nor
is
this
all
in
which
we
differ
;
as are
the
processes and
states
apart,
so
also are
the
results
different.
The
revelations of Spiritual
existences, moods,
modes,
and conditions
of
being,
as
given
by
nearly
every
Spiritual
Medium
of whom
I
have ever
heard
or
read, are, to
say
the
least, totally unsatisfactory
to
the
great
majority
of
those
who
seek for
information
on
the
vital
question of
Immortality
—
how,
and why,
and
to
what
great
end
we
are
thus
gifted and endowed?
Another,
and equally important one,
is
that
concern-
ing
the Soul-world, and the inhabitants
thereof—
how
they
live,
where
they
live,
and
to
what
end
and
use
?
I believe
that light is, in this volume, thrown
on
all
these great
and
vital
points
;
such light, indeed,
as
will
be
hailed
and
appreciated
by
all
who
read
and
think,
as
well
as
by
those
who
read
and
feel
—
two
widely
different
classes,
but to both
of whom these
pages are
humbly,
yet
hopefully
addressed.
The
process,
strange,
wierd,
and
altogether
unusual,
to which
allusion
has
been
made,
went on
for
a
long
time
;
and
by slow
degrees
I
felt that
my own
person-
ality
was
not
lost to
me,
but
completely swallowed
up,
so
to
speak, in
that of
a
far
more
potent
mentality.
A
subtlety
of
thought, perception and understanding
be-
came
mine
at
times, altogether
greater
than I had
ever
known
before
;
and occasionally,
during
these
strange
blendings
of
my
being
with
another, I
felt
that
other's
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12
DEALINGS
WITH
THE
DEAD.
feelings,
thought
that other's thoughts,
read
that
other's
past,
aspired
with
that other's
aspirations,
and
talked,
spoke,
and
reasoned
with
and
under
that
other's inspi-
ration. For
a
time
I
attributed
these
exaltations
of
Soul
to
myself alone, and
supposed
that
I
was not at
all
indebted to
foreign aid
for
many
of the thoughts to
which, at such
moments, I frequently
gave utterance
;
but much
study
of
the matter
has
at
length convinced
me,
not
only
that
the inhabitants
of
the
Soul-worlds
have
much
to do in
moulding
the great
world's future,
but that occasionally they so
manage
things that their
thoughts
are
often
spoken, and their behests,
ends,
and
purposes
fulfilled
by
us
mortals,
when
we
imagine
that
we
alone
are
entitled to
the
sole
credit of
much that
we
say,
think,
and do,
when the fact is, we doubtless are
oftentimes
merely
the
proxies
of
others,
and
act
our
allotted
role
in
a
drama
whose
origin
is
entirely super-
natural, and
the
whole direction
of
which
is
conducted
by
personages
beyond the
veil.*
Well, one
day,
it so
happened that I
repaired
to
a
beautiful
village
in one
of
the
New
England
States,
on
a
visit
to
some
very
kind
and
well-beloved
friends
—
the
brother and
the sister
of
the
rare
maiden
whose
won-
drous
thoughts
abound
in the
volume
now
before
the
reader
;
and while there, the conversation
ran on
topics
wide
apart from
either
Mesmerism
or
its
great
cognate,
Spiritualism. During
the
time that
had
elapsed since
my
last
visit
to
the beautiful
village,
some
two
years,
Death
had
been
busily
gathering
his
harvests in
all
the
regions
round about ; nor had
he kept
aloof from the
house
on
the
hill.
No
cruel
Death
had
been
over
its
threshold,
and
Azrael
had
carried two precious souls
over
the
Dark
Eiver.
These
were
Cynthia
and
her
mother.
After
partaking
of
a
sorrow-seasoned
meal,
mourn-
*
That
many of
them are
inhabitants
of
other
spheres, beings
who
never
lived
on this earth,
I
am
firmly
convinced.
My
reasons
will be
given
in
the
sequel
to
this
present
volume.
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14
DEALINGS
WITH THE
DEAD.
book
shall be
produced,
containing
the
facts
of
a
living,
dying,
dead
and
transfigured
human
being
—
containing
the
reasons
why
men
live after death,
and
the
methods
of
their
after life
and
being.
This
book
shall
contain
an
account
of
the
experience
of
two
human
beings
—
the
one,
while
temporarily disenthralled
;
the
other,
when
permanently
so—
shall contain the
experience
of Cyn-
thia
during
her passage
from earth
to
the
grave
of
earthly
hope
and
being,
and
a
history
of
what
befell
thereafter.
These
were
the spoken
words.
Once
more
I
resumed
my
personality,
and
attended to the
affairs
of
the
busy
world.
In
other
days
the promises were kept, and this
first
book was
written.
Nothing
further
need
be said by way
of
introduction
to
what follows,
further
than
to observe
that
certain
Soul-experiences; related
in
the
second
part,
were
mine
—
the writer's
—
while
the
reasonings are
not
wholly
such.
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(tptftte.:
%lu
gmWmU.
I
purpose
to say nothing whatever concerning
my
life as
a
denizen
of the outside world—of
my
existence
or career while clothed
with the
garments
of
mortality.
It
is
of
my
death
that
first
I wish
to
speak,
and
of
what
took
place
thereafter
—
of
where
and
how
I
found
my-
self
as soon as
the icy
hand
of
Death
had
touched my
heart, and frozen
up
my vitals. While
with my friends,
from
whom
the
change
separated
me, I was, so
far
as
frail mortals in my condition
of
bodily health
can
be,
quite
happy and
contented
—
contented
to
endure,
with
all
possible patience,
that
for
which
there
was
no
medicament,
no
remedy
;
and,
all
things
considered,
satisfied I lived, and
in
the self-same
spirit died*
Died
?
No
;
I am not dead
—bodies
change
;
souls
can
never
die.
Why?
For
the reason that
God,
who,
like
human
beings,
is
intelligent
and immortal, can
Himself
be
never
blotted
out
of
being.
He
is
Mind,
Memory,
Love,
and
Will,
not
one
of
which
can
ever
perish
;
and
these being
the
attributes of
man
likewise,
it
follows
that,
so
long
as
He
exists, we
must
also.
In
the
year
1854,
being
ill
of
consumption, the
person,
an
account of whose experience
is
given
in
these
pages,
although
long previously
somewhat
familiar
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16
DEALINGS
WITH THE
DEAD.
•
with, began to take an especial interest in
the
great
subject
of
an
hereafter,
as
revealed
by what
purported
to be
the
spirits
of departed
men and
women
;
and
then,
for the
first
time,
as
Death's
cold
presence
sensibly
approached
me
afar off,
and
the
sense
of
going
began
to quicken
in my being,
I commenced
seri-
ously
to speculate concerning
immortality,
and to pay
.
greater
heed
to
the alleged
revelations from
the mys-
terious
Beyond.
Bye-and-bye,
consumption
so wasted
me,
that
I
grew
tired
;
and
finally,
a
mist came before
my
eyes, and
shut
out the
fields,
the forests, and the
faces
of my
friends,
—
my
friends—
none
dearer
than
whom, were
ever
clasped
to
affection's
warm heart.
*
*
*
*
And
so I slept,
—
but
woke
again
from
out of that
strange,
deep sleep, called
Death. The awakening was
very
strange
—
was*
such
as
I
had never
even
imagined
to be
possible.
Where
ami?
was
asked by myself
of
that
very
self.
Not
mine,
but a
lower, sweeter,
more
musical
voice,
soft
and dulcet
as
the tinkle
of
a love
bell,
answered me
from
out
a
veil of rosy
light,
that hung between
me,
and, whatever
was
beyond.
In the
Divine
City of
freed
souls,
—
the land of Immortal, but
not
Eternal
rest.
*
*
*
*
I
felt, and knew that
I
was
—
dead
As
the
sense
of these
words
struck
upon
my
soul
where
this
voice
came
from,
seemed
very
strange
to
me,
for
this
reason
amongst
others :
I
had,
to
a
certain ex-
tent,
familiarized
myself
with Physics,
and
knew
that
sounds were
supposed
to
be the result
of
certain
aerial
vibrations.
Now,
supposing
this
theory to be
correct,
it
struck me, that I,
a
disembodied soul,
ought
not to
be
competent to
discern sounds,
for
there
was
neither
tym-
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DEALINGS
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THE
DEAD.
17
panuin
to
receive, auditory
nerves to
conduct,
nor external
ear,
to
collect
these
waves
of sound.
It
seemed
to me, that one of the
two
prevalent theo-
ries must be
false
;
either
sound
is
not material,
or
that
the
Spirit
of a
human
being
is;
—
for
I
had
not the
shadow
of a
doubt,
but
that
I
was
really,
and
forever,
an
in-
habitant
of
the
soul-world. If
sounds
are
material,
how
was
it
possible for
me
to
hear them,
being
a
Spirit
?
If
a
Spirit
is but
a refined form of
matter,
then
the notion
of
its
eternal durability,
is a
false
one, and
there
must
come
a
period when it too, like
the body,
must
dissolve
away.
These things
troubled me.
I
had
passed
to
death,
not
as
a
sluggard,
and
careless
of
what
might
await
me,
but with
every faculty keenly awake.
Nor
do
I
suppose
five
minutes
elapsed
after
I
emerged
from
my
body, ere I
was
perfectly
alive to
all
that
surround-
ed me.
I
distinctly saw
certain
familiar
things,
and
recognized
them;
but there
was
not any
difficulty in comprehending
the
rationale
of
this; for
I
perceived
that
solar light
was
not the
only
source
of
illumination
the
earth
pos-
sessed. Indeed, there
is no such
thing
as
darkness.
The
life
of
all
things
is
light,
and although
sun,
moon,
and
stars
should hide behind
an
impenetrable veil,
yet
the things
of earth would still
be
visible
to
the sight of
the
soul.
There
are
two
other
sources of
light;
first,
the
electrical
emanations
from
every
material
object
illumine
them,
and whatever
maybe
near;
and
second,
the
air
itself, which
fleshly lungs
inhale,
is
but
the
outer
garb
of
a
finer
and magnetic
sea, which
not
only
en-
circles the
earth, but stretches
away
in
all directions
to
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18
DEALINGS
WITH THE
DEAD.
the
outer
limits
of
creation
;
and
in this,
all
things
are
radiant,
all things visible.
These
observations
were
quickly
made
;
and
in
an
instant
thereafter, I turned toward
the
fleecy veil
pre-
viously
observed, and
saw
the
figure
of an
old, gray-
haired
man
emerge therefrom, leading
by
the
hand,
a
sweet
and
lovely
girl apparently
about
ten
years
old.
The
gleesome
smile on
that
angel's
face,
the look
of
bland
benevolence
on
the
features
of the
man,
surpassed
aught
of
the
kind
that I had
ever
seen
before.
Both of
them
approached,
and
greeted
me. I could
not return
the
salutation,
because the strangeness and
utter
novelty,
not
only of
my
new
situation,
but
of my sensations,
were
such that it was
impossible
to
act
as
in other
mo-
ments,
I
feel
certain
I
should
have been
prompted
to.
The
man
spoke, and
called me
daughter.
The tones
were precisely
those I had
formerly
heard
;
and two
things surprised
me
:
First,
tKeir
serene
and liquid
melody,
—
so
very
different from those one
would
na-
turally expect
to hear
from
one of his
appearance;
and
second,
that
very appearance
itself:
for
both
the
man
and
child
were clothed
after
the
manner
and
fashion
of
the
earth.
This
was a
matter of
astonishment,
for
I
had
supposed
that the
clothing
of the Spirit
was
vastly different
from that of
the
body.
Evidently, the old
man
read
my
mind,
and
understood
the
cause of
my
perplexity.
Drawing
near to
where
I
stood,
he
touched my forehead
with
his
finger,
and
said,
Be
clear, my
child,
be
clear.
As
if
that
touch
were
magic,
there
came an
instan-
taneous
change over me
;
it
was as
if
I thought to
the
point
I
wished, and that with
perfect
clarity.
Things,
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DEALINGS
WITH
THE
DEAD.
19
which
a
moment
before
were wrapped in
the
folds
of
mystery,
now
became
transparent
as
the plainest
I
could
wish.
As
a
matter
of
course,
I
took
notice
of the
friends I
had
just
left
behind
me
—
yes,
behind me, in
what
was
now
in
very
truth
a
far-off
world:
—
even
though not ten
yards intervened
between
myself and the
dear
ones,
who
now
mourned
me;
yet
in
presence
of
the
fact
that
I
have
very
momentous
revelations to make,
—
revelations
that
will
startle the
world,
—
I
cannot now
stop
to
relate
my
emotions,
my sorrows
or my joys,
for
I
felt
that
at
last I was in
the
realm of
pure knowledge
;
and
now
feel
that
this precious
opportunity
must
be
improved,
to
other
ends
than
a
mere recital of my
emotions
and
sympathies
however acute and
tender they
may
have
been.
The communication
between the
soul-world and earth
is far
more
difficult and rare
than
I
had believed, or
than thousands believe to-day. Much,
I learned, that
passes among
men
for
spiritual
manifestation, really
has
no
such
origin,
while many
things,
attributed
to
an
origin
purely mundane, are really
the
work
of
intelligent
beings,
beyond
the
misty veil.
Long
previous to
my final
illness, I
had
held
many
interesting
conversations with my
friends,
concerning
the
higher
life
and
worlds, and particularly
with
the
one
by
whose aid I
am
now
enabled
to
make these dis-
closures
;
and
I
had
made
a solemn
compact,
to
the
effect,
that
if
it
were
possible
to
return
subsequent
to
death,
I
would
do
so,
and,
reveal
such
mysteries
as
I
might
be enabled or
permitted
to. This
resolution
grew
out of
the
fact,
that
not
one
of
the
theories, regarding
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20
DEALINGS
WITH
THE DEAD.
the 'post mortem existence
of
human
kind,
which
I
had
ever
heard or
read,
gave
me
the
satisfaction
that
my
soul
desired.
I
suspected
that
many
of
the
current no-
tions regarding
the
lands
beyond the
curtain,
were, to
say the least, largely
tinctured with the mind
of
the
individuals
through
whose
lips
the
oracular
utterances
came
;
consequently
I
became,
to
a
degree,
suspicious
of
all
modern
eolism and
eolists,
because
I
feared
their
inspirations
had
not
so
high
and
deep
a
source
as
they
claimed,
and
is claimed
for them.
My
mind,
in
this
respect, is
still
unchanged.
The
first
lesson that
flashed
in
upon
me, after the
mysterious
clarification
of soul to which
allusion has
been
made
was
this
:
People
on
earth
spend
a
great
deal
of
time
in
acquiring
lessons
which
have
to
be
unlearned,
upon
their
entrance
on
the
upper
life
;
must
be
unlearned,
ere
they
can
advance
far
in
the
acquisition
of
the
rare
treasures
of
knowledge, to
be
found only by the
true
seeker, even
in that
mighty
realm which constitutes the
soul-world.
God
has
placed
all
true
human
joys,
there,
as well
as
on
the
earth, upon
high shelves,
whence
they cannot
be
taken
by
proxy
;
—
they must
be
reached for by those
who
would
have
them
\
and
the
more
precious
the
joy,
the
higher
the
shelf;
—
the more
valuable
the
volume,
the
greater
effort is
required
to obtain
the
perusal
thereof.
This
is
the first
great law.
Now,
in
collecting
what
purported to
be
scraps
of
knowledge,
from
the
realm
of
spiritual
existence, I
found
on
my
entry
there,
that
I
had
laid
up
quite a
store of
falsities
in the
magazines of my
soul:
—
laid
up
great heaps of what I
supposed
were
the gold
and dia-
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DEALINGS
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THE
DEAD.
21
nionds of
supernal
truth; but
which,
no sooner had I
entered
the portals
of
the
vast
temple
of
Eternity,
than
I
found to be
the most
useless
rubbish;
and
nearly
all
my treasures
proved
to be
the merest
paste
and
tinsel.
The first
thing,
therefore, which
the
soul
desirous
of
attaining
real
proficiency
in knowledge,
has to
do,
is
to
unlearn
its
follies as
quick
as possible.
This
process
is
called
by
a
term
signifying
vastation,
or
throwing off. Some do
this
at
once
and with ease
;
others linger
a
long time in
error,
and
only
attain
the
great end
through great
trial and perseverance, just
as
persons
on
earth.
My
desire was ever
to,
and
for
the
truth
;
hence
the
process, to me was
one of
comparative
ease.
The
ideas
which
I
had
imbibed,
and
given
my
heart
to,
concerning
matters
spiritual,
were the same
that
are
still current
amongst
those
who accept
that
which
is
known
as
modern
Spiritualism.
Succinctly
stated,
they were these
:
first,
The spirit
of
a
human
being is
the
product
of
the
physical
body
;
the
human
being is a
triplicate,
composed of soul,
or
the
thinking
principle, the
body,
and
an
intermediate link,
called
spirit
;
possessing
all
the
organs of, and
shaped
like
the
body,
and
which
serves
to
connect
this
last
with the
soul,
while
on earth,
and
being
its
eternal casket
after
death.
The soul, spirit and body are
called into
being
at
one
time, and
that
upon
the
earth.
The
spiritual
body,
like
the
physical, is
subject
both
to
waste
and want,
for
which
ample
and due
provision
has by
God
been
made.
It
has thirst,
hunger,
and
amatory
love,
all
of which
have
their
appropriate
grati-
fications in the
Spirit-world. This spiritual
world
itself
is
on
the
surface
of
a
zone surrounding the earth, at a
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DEALINGS
WITH THE DEAD.
distance
of
one
hundred miles,
more
or less
;
above
this
zone,
is
another
and
another,
to
the
number
of
twelve
;
each
zone
is
a
*
Sphere/
and its
inhabitants
are divide d
off
into
classes,
degrees,
societies and
circles. All the
zones
are
diversified
with real
and
absolute rivers,
trees,
mountains,
lakes,
landscapes, cities, and
so
on,
just
as
is
the
material
globe
;
and all
these
things
are
fixtures.
Such,
in
brief, are
the
general ideas
on
the
subject
enter-
tained t>y
the
people
j
and
such as I
had
believed and
conceived to be
true. But
when
I
came
to
pass
through
the
change, and
to realize the
new condition, I
ascer-
tained that
so
far
from
being founded
in
reality,
they
were
simply
—
nonsense
According
to
the foregoing,
which
is
confessedly
the
most
popular
conception
of the
realms
beyond,
and
of
its inhabitants, that
world
is
scarcely
better
than
the
one
that
mortals occupy. These
notions totally
ignore
Spirit
;
for,
according
to
them, Spirit
is
nothing more
than matter
in ah exceedingly
refined, or rather, subli-
mated,
condition
;
whereas
Spirit
is
no
such
thing.
True,
it animates
material
things,
but itself
is
not
material.
It
is
above,
beyond, and
discreted
from it.
Like
the
asymptotes of
an
arc, it
forever
approaches, but never
actually
contacts
matter.
The
same general theory ac-
cords
mankind
an
origin here
in
space and
time
merely,
and
at
best
predicates
but
sempiternity,
or
a future end-
less duration
for
him;
whereas,
if
soul
begins to-be
at
all
on the
plane of earth
and
matter,
it must
have
but
a
very
ill-grounded
assurance of
an
endless race,
No,
this is
not
correct
;
for
Soul,
like
God,
is
from
forever
in
the
past,
to
forever
in
the distance
;
and so
far from
origin-
ating
on
the
earth,
it
has
for
myriads of ssons
sped
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DEALINGS
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23
its
career
through God's
infinite Silence Halls,
and now
merges,
whether
for
the
first
time or
not, is needless
to
inquire
at
this
point,
into
the
vocal
Harmonead.
In
the
life
of
earth,
the
soul
awakes
from
its
pre-state
into
one
as
different
as
can well be
thought of
;
and at death, it
experiences another
waking, quite
as
startling,
but
in-
finitely
more grand.
The
first
lesson, then, that
I
learned
was,
that with
a
great
deal
of-
philosophy,
I had but very little knowl-
edge
;
and
instead
of
finding
the
Soul-world analagous
to
the earth-world,
in
fact
I
found them
vastly
different,
and
possessing
no
one
thing in
common,
so
far
as the
surroundings
of
the
spiritual
entrant
was
concerned.
All
that
has
been
said
required
several
minutes
to
de-
scribe,
but not
ten
seconds
to experience.
Hooked toward
the
old
man and
the
child,marvelling,
as
before observed,
that
they wore clothing
after
the man
ner
of the
earth-kin, and
bore
the appearance
of
ex-
treme youth
and extreme age.
Is
it possible that
years
affect
souls
?
Do
we
grow
old,
as
well
as
need
garments
in
the
other world
?
w
These
queries
suggest-
ed
themselves,
and while present
in my
mind,
the
old
man
came
to my right side, and took
me by my
left hand,
while the little
girl,
Nellie,
—I subsequently
learned
she
had
been
called
by
the dear
ones
left
behind her,
took
my
right
hand
;
and
both
said,
Come,
Cynthia,
they
await
yoiv:
let
us
go
to
meet them.
I
now
made
three
important
discoveries':
First,
that
I
was yet in
the
room, where
my
breath
had been
resign-
ed : that I was
clothed
in
precisely
such
a
dress as
I
had
usually
worn
;
and
third, that
so
far
as I
could
judge,
I
actually
trod
upon,
and walked
over
a
stratum
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DEALINGS
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DEAD.
of air,
just such
air
as
I
had
been
used
to
breathe,
albeit
that
was
not
possible
any
longer, for
the
reason
that
it
was all
too
heavy
for the
respiratory
apparatus
of
that
which
now
constituted my
body, or
at
least
the
vehicle
of myself
—
the
thinking,
acting,
living
me.
My
method
of
locomotion differed
essentially
from
that
of
my
two
companions,
who
did
not
walk,
but
seemed
to
glide
along
at
will
through
that
same
air,
which
was
to
me quite palpable,
for
I distinctly noticed
that
its
touch
was of a
velvety
character,
and quite elastic.
My
feet
moved
;
theirs
did not. And
so
we
passed
out
of
the house
through the open
door,
—
for
a person
had
just
entered.
From
one
or
two
incidental
circumstances
that
took
place, not
essential
to
this narrative,
and
therefore
with-
held,
I
became
convinced
that unless
some
incarnate
man
or
woman
had
raised
the latch
of that
door, it
must, so
far
as
I
was
concerned, have
remained
shut
to
all
eternity, barring
wind,
decay,
accident,
or
an
earth-
quake
;
for
in my
then
state
of
enlightenment
on
the
subject, I
saw
no
possible
means
whereby
to
effect
our
liberation.
It
struck
me that unless some
such agency
as
has been
named,
came
to
our
assistance,
we
must
either
make
our
egress by
means
of the
chimney,
or
stay
pent
up
there
until the elements dissolved
a
portion
of
the
edifice
;
or,
supposing
it to
be
proof
against
de-
cay, a
dreadful alternative,
so
it seemed,
there
we must
remain
for
evermore. Subsequently I learned that
even
were such
a
thing possible,
and
I never got
outside
of that
dwelling,
yet
it
would
be
far
less terrible
than
fear
might
lead
one to imagine or
suspect
;
for
still there
would
re-
main, not
only
an
infinity
of duration, but
also
a
universe
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DEALINGS
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25
to
move
and
be
in,
quite
as
infinite
in both
extent
and
variety beside;
for
the
Soul,I
soondiscovered,was
a
^asti-
tude in and
of
itself; and
should it happen that
not
one
of the
moments
of its
mighty
year
be
spent in the
society
of
others
like unto
itself,
yet
there would be
but
little
occa-
sion for
ennui; not
one
lonely
minute need
be
spent,
for
all
its
days
—if
for
illustration's
sake,
I may predicate time
of
that whereof
emotions
and
states
are
the
minutes
and
the hours—
might
be
profitably
employed
in visiting
its
own
treasure
houses
and in
counting
the
rare
jewels
there
stored
away
;
besides
which, it
could perform
many
a
pleasant voyage,
visiting mighty continents,
rare
islands,
wondrous
cities, and
marvellous,
countries
of its
own
tremendous
being
;
—
aye
it
could
amuse
itself
for
ages
in
merely
glancing
at
the
hills, valleys,
caverns
—
strange
deep
caverns
they are
too
—
the oceans,
forests,
fields
fens, brakes,
and marshes of its
mighty
self;
nor
would
its resources be
exhausted at the thither
end of
the
rolling
wave of
Time
;
because
time
is not
to
the
soul
:
its
duration
and
successions
are
of
thought,
not
seconds
—
so
wonderful, so
vast,
so
illimitable,
and,
taken
as
a
unit,
so
incomprehensible,
save
by
the
Over-soul
himself,
is
the
human being. Soul
thou august
thing
Felt
thou mayest be
;
understood by
none,
save
God
;
and,
albeit
we
may explore
a
little
of
thy
forelands,
yet only
He
can
penetrate
thy depths
;
only
He
can
trace
the
streams
that
water
thee to
their source, and
that
source
can
be no
other
than
His
divine
heart,
who,
forever un-
seen,
is
never
unfelt
; an
invisible
worker
afar
off,
yet
near at
hand
;
one
who
spreadeth the
banquet,
and
pre-
pareth
the
feasters,
who
worketh
ever in
secret,
yet
who
doeth all
things well
Soul
Mighty
potentate
2
i
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26
DEALINGS WITH
THE DEAD.
Victim
at
once,
and
victor
of
circumstance
and
time
Thou
enigma,
which millions think they
have
solved,
even
while
thou
laughest
at
them
;
who
imagining
they
have
untied
the
knot,
have
not even
found
the
clue
Strange
riddle
Thing
of
which
men
think
they are
well
informed,
because
they
have learned
a
few of
thy
names,
and
can call
thee
Psyche,
Soul,
Spirit,
Pneuma
and
Breath
;
word-names,
which
generally
convey
about
as
much of
thee
to
the
common
understanding,
as
the
name-words
Algebra,
Geometry,
Music and
Number,
do
to
the
barbarians
who
hear
them pronounced,
of
the
vast
realities that underlie
the sounds
or
the
signs.
Soul
Existence, whereof eolists
and pedants
learnedly
prate
and
bluster
in
long phrase
and loud tone,
as
if
thou
didst not
command
silence
of
him
who
would
approach
thee,
and seek to know the
awful
mysteries
slumbering
beneath thy titles.
Soul
Whereof
every-
body
talks so
much,
but
of
which
even the wisest
of
either
earth
or
heaven
know
so
very
little.
f:
Well,
in my ignorance,
I
felt that
unless
some
one,
something
material,
had
opened
that
door,
we
must
stay
imprisoned
there
in
that
house upon the
hill,
forever and
for
evermore.
How
little, how very
little,
I then knew or suspected
concerning
the
mighty
powers
latent,
and
never
yet
fully
unfolded in auy human being
—no
matter whom, no
matter
where
located,
how
high
in
heaven,
on
earth,
or
deep
down in
the
bottomless
hell,
or the
blackest
barathrum
of
the
infinitudes of Possibility. No
one
save
God
can
fathom
the profounds
of
Soul.
Why?
Because,
like Him, it
is
absolutely
Infinite :
Him, in
Conscious
Power—it, in
Capability
Yery
imperfect
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DEALINGS
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27
still, and
necessarily
so,
yet
my
notions
of the
Soul's
powers
were
then
exceedingly
vague,
crude,
and
unde-
fined.
In
other
and
succeeding
states to
which
I
subse-
quently
attained,
much of this
ignorance
was
dispelled
by
new
light
which
constantly
broke in upon my
being.
And we
passed
beyond
the
portal
of the house,
my-
self crossing
at
the
same
instant
its
threshold,
and
that
of
Time
;
nor
did
I
once
cast
a glance
toward
the
frail
and
decaying shell from
which
a
joyous
thrill
of
super-
consciousness
told
me
that
I had
forever
escaped
;
in-
deed
I
had
no disposition to do
so,
for
the
reason
that
new
and
strange
emotions
and
sensations
crowded
so
fast
upon me, that
my
whole attention
was
absorbed
thereby
;
for
they
swept
like
the
billows of
a
wind
troubled
lake, across
the entire
sea
of
my
new-born
being. One
thought, arid one alone,
connected
with
earth, assumed
importance,
and that
was
associated
with
the
physical
phenomenon
of
dissolution,
and it
shaped itself in
a
hundred
ways
with
the
rapidity of
lightning
—
no,
not
lightning,
but
quicker,
for
that
is
very slow
compared
to
the
flashings
and
the
rushings
forth
of thought, even in the
earth-made
brain
;
how
much more
rapid,
then, from
a
source
around
which
are
no
cerebral
impediments
to
obstruct.
Death
—this
it is
to
be
dead
thought I. How
blind, how
deaf
we
are,
not
to see,
and
know,
and
hear, that all things
tell
of
life,
life, life—being,
real and true
;
while
nothing, nothing
in
the
great
domain of
our
God,
speaks
one
word
of absolute
death,
of a
blotting
out
of
Soul
—
Soul,
which,
while
even cramped
in coares bodies,
sometimes
mounts
the Capitals
of
existence,
and
with
far-penetrating
vision
pierces the profoundest
depths of
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28
DEALINGS
WITH THE
DEAD.
space,
gazes
eagle-like
upon
the very
sun
of
Glory,
laughs
death to
scorn,
and surveys
the
fields
of
two
eternities
—
one
behind, and
one
before it.
This
thing
can
never die,
nor
taste
a
single drop
of bitter
death
#
*
*
jj
ow
strange,
how
wonderfully
strange
I
feel
yet these sensations are
of excellent
health,
of exhilarant
youth,
of
concentration and
power
;
nor hath
decrep-
itude
or
decay
aught
therein.
I am not
faint,
but
strong
;
not
sad,
but
joyous.
These were
my
observations on
realizing
the
great
change. Many
a
time had
I
read and
heard
of
the
capacity
human beings
have
of
experiencing
joys
purely
nervous.
Nearly
all present
human pleasures are
based
upon
the
fineness
and
susceptibility
of the
nerves
to re-
ceive
and
impart magnetic impressions.
My
nerves
had
aforetime
been
made
to
tingle with
strange,
deep
bliss
when
in
the
presence
of
those
I
loved,
after their
return
from
long
absence
;
I
had
tasted
the exquisite
nectar from
the lips of an
innocent
prattling
babe,
and
had
known
the
tumultuous
thrill of friendship's joyous
meetings
;
and yet
all
these
were as
blasts
of
frozen
air to what
now kept
running, leaping,
flying, dancing
through
me. It was
the supremely
delicious
sense
of
being
dead—
the
voluptuous
joy
consequent
upon dying.
At
first
it seemed to
me
that
keener
joy,
or
deeper
bliss would
be
impossible
for man or
woman
to
experi-
ence
than
those
that
now
were
mine.
After
a
while
I
learned better.
Mankind expand
from
the
action
of
two
principles
Intellect
and Intuition
•
the
first being
the
basis
of
pro-
gression,
the latter
of
development.
Some,
both
in and
out of
the
body,
are
built
up
by
one,
some
by
the other
;
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DEALINGS
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29
and
many rise from the
combined
action
of
both.
Many
of
the
dead
pursue
the
triumphs
of
intellect
and
investi-
gation,
just
as when
on
earth.
These
are
the
progres-
sionists
—
vast
in number,
great
in
deed,.but
constituting
an inferior
order,
as
they must ever be secondary
to
that
vaster
host and
higher
order who climb
the
ladder
of
intuition.
Without
egotism, then, but in
all
humility,
I
say
that
great
joy
was
mine on
finding
myself
num-
bered with
the larger
army.
It was
in allusion to the
fact that
all the
learning
a man may
acquire
on
earth,
really
stands
him
but little
on
the
other side,
that
one
of
old
declared
that
in
that
upper
kingdom
the first
should
be last, and
the
last
be
first
; for
it
often
happens
that
one
almost ignorant
in
a worldly
sense,
may have
the
highest
and
the
grandest intuitions
of truth,
divested
of
the thick coats
wherewith
learning
often clothes
it.
People
in whom intellect predominates over intuition,
naturally gravitate to their true position in
the
realms
beyond. Their destiny is
to be
for
a
long time (and of
such
time
can
justly
be
predicated) pilgrims in the
Spirit-world
or middle
state,
whereas all
in
whom
intuition
is
exalted, can not
only
be
occasional
residents,
for redemptive
purposes, of the
outer Spirit-world, but
are
intromitted
to
the
deeper
and
sublime realities
of
the Soul-world
—
a
world
as
much different from the
merely
Spiritual
kingdom
as
is the
processes
of
a
musi-
cian's
soul,
when at
high
tide, superior to
the
mental
operations
of
a
midnight burglar.
A
veil
divides
those
worlds as
completely
as
does
a
similar one
separate
earth from
Spirit-land.
Two
beings there
may
meet,
one
a
resident
of
the
Soul-realm,
the
other a
denizen
of
Spirit-land
;
the former may be in close
propinquity
with
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30
DEALINGS
WITH
THE DEAD.
the latter, and yet the
spheres
of
their several
existences
be as
far
apart as
is
North
from
South. The
one
sees
and
knows
only from
appearances, the
other
from
posi-
tive
rapport.
This fact
at
once
explains
many
of
the
differences
in
the accounts
which mortals
receive,
and
un-
mistakably
so,
from
the
lands
beyond the
swelling
flood;
the kingdoms o'er the
sea.
My
knowledge
flowed in
upon
me
through the channels of
intuition,
and through
them
I
learned
that the hyper-sensational joys to
which
allusion
has been
made,
are
ever
experienced in exact
ratio
to
the
purity
of
the past record
of the
life. Those
which
I
felt
were only of the fourth
degree, there
being
three beyond,
though
how
mine
should
have
been
so
intensified
and deepened, was,
and,
for reasons
plainly
to
be
seen,
must
ever remain,
a
mystery.
The
amount,
degree,
and
even kind,
of joy
felt
by
any
soul
upon
its
passage
over
the
Myst,
depends
upon
three things, and
these
are
: First, the nature of
the
motives
which,
pre-
vious
to
the mortuary divorce,
prompted
to
all
or
any
action,
either
toward
the self,
the
neighbor, or
society
;
Second,
the
amount
of
good
a
person
has
done
on
earth
;
and
Third,
the
amount
of use,
in
the higher
sense,
they
may
have
subserved
previous to
physical
dissolution.
Nellie
and
I, and
the old
gray-haired
man
who
ac-
companied
her,
soon reached
the road
in
front
of
the
house
wherein
I
had lived,
and
wherein I
was
born
into a
newer
phase
of
life.
While
looking
at
my
companions
to
find
out